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M6: Dead Man's Gulch - Day 4
Votes *Umby accuses Tock http://www.talking-time.net/showpost.php?p=869473&postcount=1077 *dtsund accuses JohnB http://www.talking-time.net/showpost.php?p=869818&postcount=1089 *Brickroad accuses Nodal http://www.talking-time.net/showpost.php?p=869828&postcount=1092 *Byron accuses namelessentity http://www.talking-time.net/showpost.php?p=869830&postcount=1093 *Wheels accuses Nodal http://www.talking-time.net/showpost.php?p=869851&postcount=1100 *JohnB accuses Brickroad http://www.talking-time.net/showpost.php?p=869861&postcount=1105 *Wheels retracts accusation of Nodal http://www.talking-time.net/showpost.php?p=869865&postcount=1108 *dtsund retracts accusation of JohnB http://www.talking-time.net/showpost.php?p=869888&postcount=1118 *dtsund accuses JohnB http://www.talking-time.net/showpost.php?p=869901&postcount=1126 *dtsund accuses namelessentity http://www.talking-time.net/showpost.php?p=869947&postcount=1155 *Nodal accuses JohnB http://www.talking-time.net/showpost.php?p=869990&postcount=1172 *Nodal retracts accusation of JohnB http://www.talking-time.net/showpost.php?p=869994&postcount=1175 *Wheels accuses namelessentity http://www.talking-time.net/showpost.php?p=870010&postcount=1184 *Umby accuses Nodal http://www.talking-time.net/showpost.php?p=870100&postcount=1202 *spineshark accuses Brickroad http://www.talking-time.net/showpost.php?p=870182&postcount=1222 *Byron accuses Brickroad http://www.talking-time.net/showpost.php?p=870184&postcount=1223 *Wheels accuses Brickroad http://www.talking-time.net/showpost.php?p=870186&postcount=1224 *Umby accuses Brickroad http://www.talking-time.net/showpost.php?p=870187&postcount=1225 *dtsund accuses Brickroad http://www.talking-time.net/showpost.php?p=870193&postcount=1226 *Merus accuses Brickroad http://www.talking-time.net/showpost.php?p=870200&postcount=1228 *Rai accuses Brickroad http://www.talking-time.net/showpost.php?p=870210&postcount=1229 *Tock accuses Brickroad http://www.talking-time.net/showpost.php?p=870333&postcount=1234 *Javex accuses Brickroad http://www.talking-time.net/showpost.php?p=870386&postcount=1239 *Eddie accuses Brickroad http://www.talking-time.net/showpost.php?p=870554&postcount=1255 *Torgo accuses Brickroad http://www.talking-time.net/showpost.php?p=870983&postcount=1271 *Eddie accuses Brickroad http://www.talking-time.net/showpost.php?p=871080&postcount=1272 Brickroad is lynched and revealed as a Townie. http://www.talking-time.net/showpost.php?p=868094&postcount=1074 Final Vote Count http://www.talking-time.net/showpost.php?p=871992&postcount=1293 Tock - 0 Umby JohnB - 0 dtsund dtsund nodal Nodal - 1 brickroad wheels dtsund umby Namelessentity - 0 byron dtsund wheels Brickroad - 12 johnb Spineshark Byron wheels umby dtsund merus rai tock javex eddie torgo Flavor Start of Day http://www.talking-time.net/showpost.php?p=869456&postcount=1075 The man in the black leather duster jacket slowly crept forward to the ramshackle shack at the edge of town. He stepped carefully over broken whiskey bottles, discarded rum bottles, and even a few that smelled of that Mexican cactus juice that the rancheros were so fond of. Peeking through the slats boarding up a broken window, he saw a glint of old metal on the desk, and a suspicious looking lump in the bed. "He's here. The cotton pickin' bastard's here, and now he ain't gonna bother the Diamondbacks ever again." The man reached into his jacket and pulled out a wire-wrapped bundle. He set it carefully at the base of the hut, and unwound the wire slowly. With his other hand, he grabbed a few of the bottles that were still partly full, and poured their contents all around the bundle of odd looking sticks. "They'll never know. They'll think the drunk bastard finally done himself in. It's genius!" Carefully, he let out the wire as he backed away to an oddly shaped box he had placed some 100 feet away. Connecting the wire to some leads at the bottom, he replaced the box on the ground and adjusted the t-shaped handle that protruded from the top. Turning away from the house, he pressed down hard on the handle, jamming it into the box. BAM. The house went up in an explosion of scarlet and orange flames. "I got him! No bastard could have survived that blast!" He walked away, carting his detonator box, and whistling a soft tune to himself. The next morning, a sober, hungover man waddled to what used to be his house. He looked around in horror at the black carbon scoring on the ground, and at the slag that used to be his vintage bottle collection. With a gasp, he ran inside, and heedless of the hot embers, tore through the remains searching for something. Finding it, he fell to his knees, holding the twisted metal object above his head. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! SALLY! ANYTHING BUT THAT! ANYTHING BUT THAT!" The rest of the town was greeted with his sobs, as the sun rose unsteadily over the hills. End of Day http://www.talking-time.net/showpost.php?p=872029&postcount=1294 The day started with one man's cries, and ended with another's. Byron, brokenhearted and sullen, could not even bring himself to drink. His night in the drunk tank had sobered him up good, and watching his precious collection of fine whiskeys, bourbons, rums, and tequillas launch his house to Hell's doorstep had finally done what no amount of preaching, hollering, and begging had done--it had scared the drunk straight. Last night's debacle had scared many of the townsfolk, truth be told. Not only had their main informant's house been torched thoroughly, but they had hung an innocent man, and by the looks of things were gonna hang a few more before the week was done. Brickroad, a young, brash man taken to wearing long trenchcoats and fine vests, doffed his white rough rider hat, and proclaimed himself before the gloomy crowd at the saloon. "Gentlemen, You all know me well. They call me Brickroad, after I came home from the wars with Mexico, pavin' the road as I went. But what you don't know, brothers, is that I came home from Mexico with more than just this cap and my honors. Nosir, I came home with the Word in my heart and in my hands, and it is that Word that I wish to share with you today." There were some hoots and hollers from the crowd, as Brick began to preach. In the shaded corner, JohnB, an older man with a face carved from granite and salty hair to match, wore a grim expression as he sipped his black coffee. "Brothers," Brick continued, "it seems that we have a problem here. While we have gathered and caught many a member of the Diamondback gang, there still eludes us one man, their leader. This dastardly, dark, demon of the desert has plagued us for weeks now, stealing our cattle (yeah!), taking our treasury (Yeah!), and even, dare I say it, leading us to suspect each other of being outlaws! (The crowd erupted in a roar, with several citizens standing and pounding on their tables.)" Brick raised his hands and gestured everyone to sit back down. "Now brothers, as a Priest, it has been invested in me to seek the confession of our neighbors, and it was brought to my attention that amongst us lay the final man we sought. Now I prayed hard and mightily, and God spoke to me, yes he did, and told me to share this with you. The final outlaw...is NODAL." A hush fell over the crowd, and all eyes swung to the named. Nodal, for his part, nervously brushed his moustache, and adjusted his satin hat. Looking around, his face hardened and he stood up, resting his hand on the hilt of his Colt handgun. "Yeah, of course the good padre thinks I'm an outlaw. All I did was kill a man out of suspicion that he was a no good rat. Y'see, gents, I'm just a vigilante out to handle my business. Now if you'll excuse me, I gots places to be." He started off towards the door, when a shadow darkened the enterance. "I think, sir, that you'll want to be sitting right back down. You see, you're not the vigilante at all. I am." In walked a man in a long black jacket, the dust of the road making grey and brown trails across the front. He held a shotgun in his left hand, and casually rested the barrel on his shoulder. Rai's eyes were hard as pebbles, and if mirth had ever passed across his face, it was a time before anyone could recall. He pointed his gun at the crowd, which recoiled nervously. "It seems to me, that there's been a double crossin' here. And not jus' one. Nodal, you know as well as I that you ain't nobody, and I'm willin' to bet that our Padre here ain't neither." John stood up and slammed his coffee on the table. "No, Brick ain't no damned preacher, and he ain't never heard the Word neither. And I'm not about to let my years of service and shepherding to this community be usurped by no dirty whoreson. The Word is my weapon, Brick, and I affirm by the holy light of my lord's wounds that I am the Priest here, and I accuse you of lyin' in the name of our Lord and Saviour!" His voice thundered through the saloon, with a ferocity that shocked even the most hardened men in there. "Now, there ain't no sin in the Good Book bigger'n impersonating a man of God, and your whispersilk ways ain't gonna convince the good folk here otherwise. Tell me why I shouldn't administer David's Justice on you right now." Brick smiled, but the sweat rolled down his face. "Now wait just a second, John. You know I'm no outlaw." John's eyes hardened more. "No, son, I don't know. But the only way I will is when you hang from the gallows." Brick narrowed his eyes. "Now, that's not very holy of you there." John laughed, a cold, bitter laugh from the depths of his stomach. "Ain't nothin' in the Word that says a man of God must be a nice guy. Boys, I think we know what we need to do." Spineshark and Nameless grabbed Brick and shackled his arms and legs. They put a burlap sack over his head, and took him to the Gallows. His cries rang out across the town, ending with a snap. End of Game http://www.talking-time.net/showpost.php?p=872044&postcount=1295 http://www.talking-time.net/showpost.php?p=872066&postcount=1296 Umby went about his business, that evening. Everyone tended to forget he was there, and to be fair, he was an easy one to forget. Always wearing a stuffy three piece suit regardless of the temperature, with his bright silver vest underneath his black undertaker's coat. A top hat covered his bald head, leaving only a rim of hair peeking out from the sides, and his short bristly moustache reminded folks of nothing so much as an east coast high society dandy...or a walrus. Still, everyone gave him his due, as he was the man that everyone in town was guaranteed to see last before taking their leave of this filth ridden existence. He dug a hole for his newest guest out back in the town's old Mexican graveyard. When they died, regardless of how they were in life, every man was the same, with the same wants and needs. Which was to say, Catholic or Protestant, White or Mexican, a hole in the ground was a hole in the ground, and only God could tell you apart after. He went inside to dress the body. As he took brick's jacket and shirt off, his small eyes opened wide. There, on Brick's shoulder, was a tiny tattoo...of a diamondback rattlesnake. "Oh me, oh my, I must tell someone, I must I must!" He worried his hands and looked at Brick's corpse. Only he knew the truth, and the townsmen needed to know, but only after the body was safe in the ground. He gathered up Brick's body, placed him into a coffin, and wheeled the box out to the back. He lowered the coffin in, and started saying the Last Rites as he shoveled dirt back into the hole. And then, there it was. The cold iron of a gun barrel at the back of his neck. "Undertaker, I sure hope you dug that grave deep enough for two. Cause I must say, you've been attracting a lot of attention lately, and frankly, I've had just about enough of that." Umby dropped the shovel and raised his hands into the air with a quiet dignity. "You know, stranger, people ignore me, and when they don't ignore me, they don't trust me. They associate me with death, you see. I'm their last caretaker before they go to the Pearly Gates, and I'm the last caring touch any of them will know. And yet, I live out here, by myself, in the graveyard. What could I possibly say to scare a big bold man like you?" The outlaw laughed. "Umby, Umby, Umby. You are far more clever than you let on, and these bumpkins will never know the genius they had among them. Or should I say...Umberton Q. Humphries III, Attache to the US Government?" Umby stiffened sharply, and gasped under his breath. "Yes, Umby, I know who you are. I know what Uncle Sam asked you to do, and I was there in Laredo that day when you did it. I still have the scars on my back, and the pain in my knees ain't never going away. I know that you spied for the President, and I know that you set off the bomb that killed my men, and destroyed the Second Calvalry Battalion during the struggles. And for what? Just to instigate some damn civilians that joinin' the States was the right thing to do?" His voice increased to a yell, and he prodded Umby's back with his gun. Umby's voice remained calm and steady as an oak tree in a gale wind. "I did what I did for the sake of my country, and I have no regrets at all. The nation of Texas would have fallen back to the Mexicans had I not intervened, and is a proud member of our country as a result. I am deeply sorry for the loss of your men, but I will never apologize for what I did in service to my people. If God himself came down and made an error, I would point it out,though damn me forever it would. Do what you must, but know that there is no remorse or regret in my heart." The gun shook in the outlaw's hands. "You...you bastard. When you make it to St. Peter, I hope he kicks you back into hell." The gun went off, and Umby fell face first into the grave. His blood pooled over Brickroad's coffin, mixing with the dirt of the country he died to serve. The moon continued its passage through the night. The outlaw blew the smoke off of his gun, and started for his horse, tied out front. This town had become too hot, and his gang was all but dead. Not to mention...how had that man found him? He needed to get out, now. As he rounded the corner of the mortuary, he heard the creak of a leather harness. Instantly, the outlaw slowed and pressed his back to the wall, straining to hear the source of the noise. A voice boomed out through the street. "Come on out, Nodal. It's just you and me now, just like it was back in Laredo, and just as God hisself planned for it to be. It's your judgement day a'come, boy. Come on out and face me like a man." Nodal heard the voice and stiffened more. The owner of that voice had unnerved the outlaw already that afternoon in the saloon, and this message damn near made Nodal's gun drop out of his shaking hands. Nodal took a deep breath, adjusted his belt and holster, and walked out into the street. His boots made soft clops that echoed off of the wooden walls. Standing in the middle of the road with a wide stance was Rai. His long black jacket blew in the wind, revealing a brown vest underneath, and a belt full of bullets. He turned his head without ever taking his eyes off of Nodal, and spit a wad of tobacco into the dirt. "Now it's just you and me. Thought you left me for dead, didn't ya? When the Mexican army came, and our camp done exploded. Thought you could just shoot me in the back, and take my horse and run? Well, Nods, I'm back from Hell, and Satan's given me a bullet with your name on it." Nodal's fear glowed in the stark white moonlight. "Now, now wait jus'a'second there, Rai. I'd a gone back for ya if I coulda, but them Messicans was on my tail! And I never did shoot you. You know I'd never shoot you. Jenkin's gun went off, I swear it to high heaven. And the only reason I came to this podunk spit pool was to end that bastard once'n fer all." "You didn't shoot me? You, who stood right behind me as the charge came, you, the only one of us with a working gun, didn't shoot me? And next you're gonna tell me that it was someone else I saw riding off with my horse, that just so happens to be tied up right here at yon undertaker's? Come on, now! Save your bullshit for the dumb cattle in town. You oughta know me better than that, you who I once called comrade and brother. We spent way too much time together for you to lie to me." Nodal frowned, and he stood straight. He holstered his gun, and assumed the duelist stance. "Well, then, brother, I think you and I both know the end of this story. " He looked out at the town, spying the clock tower above the post office. It was at two minutes to midnight. "When the clock sounds the turning of the day, we draw. Are we in agreement?" Rai set himself into an identical stance, and fingered the hilt of his gun. "Oh, you know we are, compadre. You know we are. It's been a long time coming, your reckoning. A long time." The two stood in the center of the wide, dusty road. The only sound was the howl of the winds, and the jingling of the horse harnesses. Somewhere in the distance, a coyote sang out to the moon. The clock crept close to the apex. Nodal felt sweat roll down his arms and collect in his palm. He twitched his hand. The clock rung out. Quick as a whip, both men drew their pistols and fired. A body hit the ground, blood pooling in the dirt. The other grabbed his stomach, shoved a wadded cloth in the wound, and got on his horse, riding off into the night. The next morning, the townsfolk gathered around the undertaker's storefront, stunned by what they saw. Nodal, lying there, with a rattlesnake sitting on top of his body, hissing at those who came too near. The sun rose over the mountains. A new day had dawned in Thornbrush. And with it, a new life. Notable Events Eddie claims 1 Snitch http://www.talking-time.net/showpost.php?p=869467&postcount=1076 Brickroad claims Priest and Nodal as Outlaw http://www.talking-time.net/showpost.php?p=869840&postcount=1094, Byron as Town Drunk, spineshark as Deputy http://www.talking-time.net/showpost.php?p=869879&postcount=1113 Nodal claims Lone Wolf http://www.talking-time.net/showpost.php?p=869854&postcount=1102 JohnB claims Priest http://www.talking-time.net/showpost.php?p=869861&postcount=1105 and Merus as Townie, Eddie as Newsie, namelessentity as Townie http://www.talking-time.net/showpost.php?p=869872&postcount=1111 spineshark claims Deputy (jailed Merus, no one, Byron) http://www.talking-time.net/showpost.php?p=869868&postcount=1109 Rai claims Lone Wolf http://www.talking-time.net/showpost.php?p=869919&postcount=1133 Category:Phases